Central Georgia Technical College is one of six colleges and universities nationwide being honored by University Business magazine in its 2017 Models of Excellence recognition program.
 
“Giving students the chance to fluctuate between in-class and online participation allows a flexible learning experience that encourages consistency,” said Tim Goral, University Business senior editor. “Central Georgia Technical College’s BlendFlex classes demonstrate a viable way to merge the traditional and developing classroom.”
 
During her time teaching classes at CGTC, Carol Lee noticed that her students often found themselves caught between course-delivery modes.
 
“I had online students who needed to be in the classroom, and I had classroom students who actually needed to go online because they had personal problems and couldn’t stay in the classroom,” Lee , now the school’s Educational Technology director.
 
BlendFlex learning, a new course delivery model, allows students to shift delivery modes—from in-class to online and vice versa—at any given time during the semester. As an entirely commuter school serving 11 counties (some of them rural), the college educates a student body dealing with an array of personal and professional issues that can easily impact learning. BlendFlex was developed to keep as many of these students enrolled as possible.
 
“The flexibility is there any time during the semester [for students] to float between the face-to-face or the online or whatever delivery method meets their needs at that time in their life,” says Bonnie Quinn, director for institutional effectiveness.
 
BendFlex students have achieved slightly higher success rates and slightly lower attrition rates than their peers in classes with only a single delivery option.
 
In addition, BlendFlex has allowed the college to enroll almost 500 students who otherwise would have been out of luck—the online delivery mode built into BlendFlex allows for classes to be taught even if minimum in-person levels aren’t met at the college’s remote sites.
 
From a single class, BlendFlex has now expanded to include 19 courses and is available to all programs. Faculty members who wish to participate must undergo professional development to learn how to manage instruction in multiple delivery modes.
 
“The teachers are very student-oriented,” says Lee. “They really have a heart for their students, and they want them to succeed.”
 
In addition to Central Georgia Technical College, Summer 2017 Models of Excellence honorees include: McDaniel College (Westminster, Md.); Endicott College (Beverly, Mass.); University of Louisville (Louisville, Ky.); University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyo.); and Villanova University (Villanova, Pa.).
 
Launched in 2015, Models of Excellence is a national recognition program honoring colleges and universities that have implemented innovative, effective and inter-departmental initiatives that are bolstering student success. These are the last of 64 institutions to be honored as Models of Excellence.